THE TOFALARS

The self-designation of the people is tubalar ~ tofalar. It is believed
that the tribal name tuba ~ tuva refers to the Nenets clan of Tuba, and
thus to the possible genetic origin of the Tofalars. At one time the Tofalars
were widely known as the Karagas. It is assumed that their name (Kara-Kash),
as well as their language, descends from the Kachins, i.e. Khakass.

Habitat. The Tofalars live north of the East-Sayan Mountains, on a boundless
taiga area, on the upper reaches of tributaries of the River Ob, the Uda,
the Biryuza, the Kan, the Gutar and the Ia. Administratively, they belong
to the Lower-Uda (Nizhne-Udsk) district of the Irkutsk region of the Russian
Federation. They are eastern neighbours of the Tuvans.

Population. Data on the Tofalars comes from population censuses:

native speakers

1883

457

1889

415

1897

?

1926

?

1959

586

89.1 %

1970

620

56.3 %

1979

763

62.6 %

1989

731

43.0 %

The decline in the number of native speakers is obviously caused by the
corroding influence of the Russian-speaking environment.

Anthropologically, the Tofalars belong to the Mongoloid Central-Asian race.
They are of small stature (men 160--164 cm), have dark a skin, dark narrow
eyes and somewhat stiff hair. Beards are sometimes worn. Their faces are
relatively high and flat, cheekbones are not very prominent, and lips are
averagely thick (thin).

The Tofalar (or Tofa) language belongs to the Uighur-Oguz group of the
Turkic languages, forming, together with the Tuvinian and ancient Uighur
and Oguz languages, the subgroup of Uighur-Tüküi. Phonetical, grammatical
and lexical characteristics show Tofalar as being most closely related
to the Tuvinian language. Some academics believe that it is in fact a dialect
of Tuvinian.

Tofalars have no written language of their own and use Russian. There are
two dialects in the Tofalar language: Alygdzher and Gutar.

Research into the vocabulary has highlighted different linguistic influences.
For instance, there are features of ancient Turkic in the Tofalar language,
as well as loan-words and phonetic elements from the Ket language, several
hundred loans from medieval Mongolian, some dozens of loans from Buryat,
and at least a couple of hundred older loans from Russian. There are also
words of unknown origin.

Ethnic origin. The origin and history of the Tofalars has been poorly investigated.
They have lived for centuries as nomads of the taiga, north of the Sayan
Mountains. In the 18th century, P. S. Pallas and J. G. Georgi regarded
the Karagas as a Samoyed people and later it was believed that they had
adopted the Turkish-Tartar language learnt from the Tuvans in the 19th
century. However, V. Rassadin established (1969) that the ancestors of
the Tofalars must have been a Ket-speaking tribe, who in the 6th--8th centuries
took the ancient Turkish language and adapted it to their own phonological
system. Later there were other influences and they were joined by other
tribes (Samoyeds, among others).

History. For centuries Tofalars have lived as nomads. They have mostly
had contacts with the eastern Tuvans. The two nations have much in common
in their way of life and in their fate. However, the Tofalars were drawn
into the Russian sphere of influence much earlier. In 1648, the Russians
founded the fortified settlement of Udinsk and subsequently, the Tofalars
became another people destined to appease the Russians' unquenchable appetite
for furs. A fixed amount of sables was required as tribute per head of
every gunbearer (aged 16--60), though often the quantities were arbitrarily
increased. In 1889, for example, tribute was demanded for 248 gunners,
although there were only 103 hunters.

The Soviet regime earned the Tofalars' gratitude by abolishing the tribute
in 1926. In 1927, hunting regulations were altered and part of the former
hunting grounds were declared reservations. This meant that Tofalars needed
a permit to hunt in their native forests. Before the Soviet regime, there
were five clans of Tofalars (Kash, Sarygh-Kash, Chogdu, Cheptei) and each
had its own migration area and way of life. In 1927, however, a campaign
was launched to force the Tofalars to settle permanently. Alygdzher, Utkum,
Nerkha and Gutara were chosen as settlement sites and by 1932 all the Tofalars
had been resettled. In 1929 the first co-operatives were formed and in
1930--1931, the Tofalars were collectivized into three kolkhozes: Krasnyi
Okhotnik, Kirov and Kyzyl-Tofa (Red Tofalar). In 1930 a Tofalar national
district, with Alygdzher as its centre, was formed in the Irkutsk region.
The Tofalars' whole way of life had changed beyond recognition and they
had been led into complete dependence on outside party. Shepherds moved
with their herds as wage labourers, and so did hunters. Increased productivity
meant many more furs for the state than did the old tax system. The new
houses built by Russian carpenters, and the new furniture, were all unfamiliar
to the Tofalars. New ready-made clothes and manufactured food appeared;
it had to, as the moose the Tofalars used to eat now belonged to the state
and was not allowed to be killed for food. Generally, the Tofalars had
to copy everything the Russians did, from introducing cattle-breeding and
horticulture to discrediting old shamanistic traditions.

In 1917 there were only two literate people among Tofalars, but in the
1930s Russian-language schools were founded. Besides becoming literate,
schoolchildren had to show a zeal for reforms. For instance, a model vegetable
garden was founded at the Alygdzher boarding school, the pupils had to
go fishing and take care of the nanny-goats. School and the young were
adroitly used to propagate the Russian language and ideology.

Nowadays, instead of following old traditions, people tend more to fuse
into the urban Russian environment. Nevertheless, speaking Russian does
not necessarily mean a total assimilation of the Tofalars: this is held
at bay by their anthropological peculiarities.

Research. Not much study has been made of the language, history and culture
of the Tofalars. Under the name of Karagas, some examples of their language
were recorded in a comparative dictionary by P. S. Pallas (Linguarum totius
orbis vocabularia comaparativa, 1787--89) and in a description of the peoples
of the Russian Empire by J. G. Georgi (Beschreibung aller Nationen des
Russischen Reichs, 1776--80). Both of them treat the Karagas as a Samoyed-speaking
people. In the 19th century M. A. Castrén wrote, however, that they were
a Turkic-speaking people (Versuch einer koibalischen und karagassischen
Sprachlehre, 1857), at the same time giving the first survey of their grammar.
In 1959 M. Sergeyev presented a more profound treatment of Tofalar society
and folk culture and in 1969 V. Rasadin followed it up with an outline
of their origin and ethnic history.